Prelude
"Little-sister, so we meet at last. I do not wish to fight you, but I will not hesitate to if I must. For this world is rightfully mine, just like all the others in your realm."
"I refuse" I say, my tone defiant. "I do not wish to fight you either, big-sister, but I will not hesitate to do so if you insist on taking away and destroying that which I have spent so long creating."
"Then, I will show you no mercy. Just as I defeated you so many times during our childhood competitions of strength, so I will again emerge victorious." Sayuri replies.
The voice reverberates through my head in the darkness, and I feel myself being pulled down into the depths of the night, powerless, as I cry out for help. "I will not give up until the end, even if it costs me everything I have!" My voice disappears into the abyss, and then ---
I awake with a start, my heart pounding quickly in my chest as I reassess my situation. I am still in my bed under a layer of pink duvets, my head on one of the mountain of pillows, and my hands clutching Myu-chan tightly.
Still in my room, I realize. Seeing the soft moonlight filter in through the window and the curtains surrounding my bed, I could almost imagine it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, the puddle of spilled ink on the ground before my desk proves otherwise: Sayuri's return was very much real and a threat. Breathing heavily, I try to calm myself. To panic now is worthless, I remind myself. One cannot make decisions in the heat of things, for doing so clouds good judgement.
I look at the clock again. The time is 4:00 in the morning, about a two hours earlier than my usual waking time. I lie back down on my bed, but I cannot fall back asleep, and so I return to my desk, and pick up the remains of yesterday's interrupted poetry session. The ink has run through the paper, making it impossible to read; indeed all but one of the characters illegible. That last character is 花・hana- or "flower".
Odd, I think. Flower. Both Sayuri and I, being sisters, had names referencing flowers, and yet it might be all we had in common.
I finish cleaning, and by that time it's almost my usual rising time. There is a knock on the door, before it slides open.
"Good morning- oh, you're awake already" says the lady who walked in my room, a rather shocked look on her face. Her name is Suzuki Chisaki, and she has been my trusted assistant for nearly 10 years now, joining and being accepted right after her graduation from college.
I nod, somewhat tired from being woken early by my nightmare, and let out a small yawn.
"You don't look very well, Chairwoman" she exclaims, a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright? I can ask the Supreme Committee to delay their meeting for another hour today, if you would like."
"It's fine" I tell her, before getting myself ready for the day ahead.
As I finish my speech in front of the 100 members of the Supreme Committee and 7600 representatives of the People's Congress before me, the meeting hall is silent.
The first member of the Supreme Committee looks at me with an incredulous expression. "You have a sister?" he asks, somewhat in disbelief.
"Yes" I nod, a solemn look on my face.
"And this sister-what was it, Oomiya Sayuki-"
"Sayuri" I correct him instinctively.
"This Sayuri-plans to attack us? Through a different realm?"
"I am confident that it will happen. My sister never fails to make an announcement before she is capable of doing something, and I do not believe this to be an exception."
The meeting room descends into silence, before someone else speaks. It's the newest member of the Supreme Committee I nominated, a young party member from Amagi City. "If this has even the chance of being true" she says, her voice growing more confident "then we must by all means prepare for enemy aggression. If we wait, the imperialists will take advantage of our weakness and indecision."
"Yes" I say in agreement. "It is still possible for a diplomatic arrangement to be found that would at least prevent conflict, but even so we must prepare for an extended conflict with the enemy. That is why I am proposing we prepare a statement of war."
Again, silence. Only the breathing of the nearly thousand people in the room can be heard, along with the sound of my frantic heartbeat. War. I said it, the worst possible outcome.
After what seems like an eternity, Premier Aoba voices his agreement. "I concur with the proposal brought forward by Chairwoman Oomiya. Given the situation, it is recommended to at least have some plan for escalation, and having the People's Armed Forces, especially the space force in ready state would be preferable."
There is more discussion now, but it seems that the tide in the room has turned towards my favour. I hardly pay it any attention, until it is time to call for a vote. Almost unanimously, with 98 votes to 2 on the Supreme Committee and 7546 to 54 on the People's Congress, the notion is passed.
The gaze of thousands of political representatives are on me, again, as I make the statement announcing the result of the vote, as well as my own intention to approve this decision.
I don't remember much of it, except my shaking hands as I read the last part, authorizing our military to prepare defensive and offensive measures to be used in case of attack by the Empire of Shin-Mutsu.
When I reach the last few words, my mind is blank, and I hardly manage to read them.
Finished, I take a deep breath and step back from the podium, before thinking.
May peace come quickly. May Heavens help us all.